VHS Frenzy!

I have it on good authority that Burning Paradise Video--Albuquerque’s top stop for your more esoteric, cult-oriented video rentals--is liquidating its stock of VHS films. From now through Friday, Dec. 19, you can purchase classic and not-so-classic VHS titles from the store’s extensive selection for a mere $3 a pop. If you’re planning on buying in bulk, you can help BP clear off its shelves by snagging 10 VHS tapes for only $25. What a deal! Get there quick, as hot titles are going fast. Burning Paradise is located at 800 Central SW and can be reached at 244-1161.

Stylish CGI fairy tale is surprisingly complex affair

By Devin D. O’Leary

Last week’s release of the largely unadvertised, mostly unseen and deservedly unloved film Delgo and this week’s release of The Tale of Despereaux point out a hard-and-fast rule of computer-animated films: It takes a great deal of skill to make one. Delgo, a product of Atlanta’s Fathom Studios, opened on 2,160 screens and made all of $511,920. That averages out to about 2 people per screening. Of course, even the highest quality of CGI work can’t cover up for a poor story. Delgo sported neither skill nor story. On the complete, polar opposite hand, The Tale of Despereaux boasts impeccable animation and a delightful story.

Boyle confounds expectations with orphans, torture, game show hosts, romance and musical numbers

By Devin D. O’Leary

Woe to the ambitious journalist, author or film critic who, 30 years from now, tries to write the definitive study of director Danny Boyle’s career. How to summarize a man who’s made a modern film noir (Shallow Grave), a blackly comic look at junkies in Scotland (Trainspotting), an uncategorizable comic crime romance fantasy (A Life Less Ordinary), an exotic thriller about utopian society (The Beach), a ’roid rage zombie movie (28 Days Later...), a quaint family drama about a kid who stumbles across a fortune (Millions), a high-minded space opera that morphs into a slasher film (Sunshine) and a Bollywood-inspired wish-fulfillment drama in which a poor Indian kid gets on the Hindi version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in order to impress his lifelong ladylove?